Custom Multiplayer Map Guide

[KittySN]

I almost always use mod maps, and it's amazing how many people ask me about custom map modding, so if you didn't know already, well, here it is! I didn't see an "obvious" guide posted. My apologies is there is!

Step I – Obtaining a New Map
You need to obtain x,y coordinates from Campaign Mode to add custom maps!

1.Start a single player game. This is your resource for map locations.
2.You’ll notice everything on a grid: settlements, armies, fleets. This is the x,y coordinate grid. Remember the Cartesian coordinate system from mathematics? Same thing.
3.Find a spot on the campaign map that you think would be an appropriate battle map location. Take care not to pick a location in the mountains, forests or seas; you should be able to move there. There are playable maps in mountains and forests, but you’re taking a risk of getting something erratic which other players won’t necessarily enjoy.
4.Open the game console with the ~ key (this may be different with your keyboard origin) when you find a location you like.
5.Type in the command “show_cursorstat” while your cursor is hovering over the square.
6.You will receive the name of the region and x,y coordinate you queried for. Write down the x,y.

Step II – Importing the Map Location into Multiplayer
Now to modify the Rome Total War system map file.

1.Find your Rome Total War program folder. Go to the “Data” folder. You should find a file named “custom_locations.txt” within. Make a copy of it and put it somewhere safe as backup. Then open it with notepad.
2.You will see familiar map names after custom_location followed by location, image, sett_locked and summer, which are enclosed in brackets.
3.Copy and paste an existing location as a template making sure to get both brackets, and then modify the name (i.e. “British Grassland”). Finally change the x,y coordinates into those which you wrote down.
4.Don’t worry about the image. If you make something up, you’ll just get a black window during game play. This isn’t a guide on altering tga files.
5.All done? Make sure the spacing is the same as the original locations. Make sure there are no out of place characters! Remember: if you screw up one character in modding files, it can screw up the entire game until you fix it.
6.Save the file and exit.

Step III – Testing and Playing Your New Map
You want to make sure it looks good and works, right?

1.Launch up the game and then try out your addition in a custom battle. If you did everything right, the new map name should be present in the map list.
2.Check the terrain, make sure it’s acceptable for multiplayer before you expect people to play on it.
3.Everything works? Good! Now invite your friends to play on it!

Freebies I liked: 96, 98; 102, 96; 115, 82; 114, 152; 70, 103
Try a search of “custom maps rome total war” online for more ideas!

[Magic_8_Ball]

Nice! Personally, I like to put in "-enable_editor" on the target on line on the shortcut. This enables battle editor, which is actually for making historical battles. However you can pick spots on the campaign map that seem appropriate for multiplayer on a grid to see coordinates. You can also preview the map by selecting it. Next, you simply plug in the coordinates the same way you explained. '

This way may work just as well too, since you can also see where mountains and what not are. On the "enable_editor" method, you can only see the shape of the map with no physical features. All you have to work with is the terrain appearance, which may give you an idea of the map unless you decide to preview it.

Nice map suggestions too =) I especially like the peninsula map that's shown in the thumbnail. It's very unique. Many of your maps have cities in them and you have to de-select them in order to play a field battle. Is that how it's supposed to be?

[KittySN]

That's interesting. For myself, none of those maps appear automatically with settlements.

[Magic_8_Ball]

That's interesting. For myself, none of those maps appear automatically with settlements.

strange. Half the time they have minor cities for me, and the other half they don't. It's not that bothersome though. You just have to deselect the settlement I can't seem to get the console up on my new computer so I can't use your method of choosing maps. However, it seems good.

[RTW Fan]

I almost always use mod maps, and it's amazing how many people ask me about custom map modding, so if you didn't know already, well, here it is! I didn't see an "obvious" guide posted. My apologies is there is!

Step I – Obtaining a New Map
You need to obtain x,y coordinates from Campaign Mode to add custom maps!

1.Start a single player game. This is your resource for map locations.
2.You’ll notice everything on a grid: settlements, armies, fleets. This is the x,y coordinate grid. Remember the Cartesian coordinate system from mathematics? Same thing.
3.Find a spot on the campaign map that you think would be an appropriate battle map location. Take care not to pick a location in the mountains, forests or seas; you should be able to move there. There are playable maps in mountains and forests, but you’re taking a risk of getting something erratic which other players won’t necessarily enjoy.
4.Open the game console with the ~ key (this may be different with your keyboard origin) when you find a location you like.
5.Type in the command “show_cursorstat” while your cursor is hovering over the square.
6.You will receive the name of the region and x,y coordinate you queried for. Write down the x,y.

Step II – Importing the Map Location into Multiplayer
Now to modify the Rome Total War system map file.

1.Find your Rome Total War program folder. Go to the “Data” folder. You should find a file named “custom_locations.txt” within. Make a copy of it and put it somewhere safe as backup. Then open it with notepad.
2.You will see familiar map names after custom_location followed by location, image, sett_locked and summer, which are enclosed in brackets.
3.Copy and paste an existing location as a template making sure to get both brackets, and then modify the name (i.e. “British Grassland”). Finally change the x,y coordinates into those which you wrote down.
4.Don’t worry about the image. If you make something up, you’ll just get a black window during game play. This isn’t a guide on altering tga files.
5.All done? Make sure the spacing is the same as the original locations. Make sure there are no out of place characters! Remember: if you screw up one character in modding files, it can screw up the entire game until you fix it.
6.Save the file and exit.

Step III – Testing and Playing Your New Map
You want to make sure it looks good and works, right?

1.Launch up the game and then try out your addition in a custom battle. If you did everything right, the new map name should be present in the map list.
2.Check the terrain, make sure it’s acceptable for multiplayer before you expect people to play on it.
3.Everything works? Good! Now invite your friends to play on it!

Freebies I liked: 96, 98; 102, 96; 115, 82; 114, 152; 70, 103
Try a search of “custom maps rome total war” online for more ideas!

Hi, great post.

Is there any way to manipulate the battle objectives? Maybe something like the battle of teutonberg forest?

[KittySN]

Not sure what you mean by "battle objectives"... If you're talking about changing the parameters of the battle such as routing armies or capturing something to something else, I'm rather certain that's hard-coded (in other words, no). If you mean creating historical battles and sharing them with your friends, those are possible to do, but can be a great feat if you're new to programming/modding and they go way beyond the scope of this thread. You need to know how to use the editor, how to write up the script and you and your friends both need to have the same modded data.